Home
What's New
Search Engine
Archives
Odyssey
Photo Gallery
Unit History
Unit Honors
TAPS
Voices Of Past
How To Submit


Up Wickline (2)
 
PFC JAMES E. WICKLINE

Grave marker for Pfc. James E. Wickline in grave 21 at the Margraten Temporary Cemetery, Holland.

 

   Pfc Wickline's remains were transferred to Plot I Row 17 Grave 21 in the Margraten American Cemetery, Holland when it was completed following WW-II.
   Pfc. Wickline was killed when his chute failed to open on September 17, 1944 during the jump into Holland.  His awards include the Purple Heart
  

Maarten Vossen of the Netherlands has adopted this grave and developed his own web site..

Dutch filmmaker Marijn Poels released the official trailer of ‘Ageless Friends,’ a 60-minute documentary this week. The story reveals the quest of  Maarten Vossen from the Netherlands about James Wickline, one of the 8301 WWII soldiers who is buried at the American Military Cemetery in Margraten. The documentary will premiere June 18, 2016 in the MET theatre, Morgantown, WV.

 

Ageless Friends is a moving story of a Dutch boy who creates a friendship with an American soldier from another time. Documentary maker Marijn Poels followed Maarten Vossen during a period of four months in both the Netherlands and West Virginia in his search for Family and friends of the soldier from West Virginia.

 

Maarten threw himself into the story and slowly comes closer to the life of James Wickline, his parents, friends and acquaintances in West Virginia. “When I saw that name on that cross, on that white marble cross, James Wickline, I knew he was someone who sacrificed his life for my freedom, for the freedom of the Netherlands,” Vossen mentions in the film. The reopening of the bridge in Osage Morgantown, named after James Wickline, symbolically makes the connection between West Virginia and the Netherlands.


Filmmaker Poels thinks this story has become an intriguing one. "Personally, I do not like documentaries about war" he says. "Nevertheless, I kept fascinated by this story. What motivates a young boy of thirteen to adopt a grave? What drove him eventually to start a quest for the person behind the soldier?" Those are the questions that Poels will bring to attention in this documentary. For the last thirteen years Maarten was doing the research on ´his´ soldier. "The last trip to Morgantown completed the puzzle for me," he says. "The climax for me was the reopening of the bridge, named after James, near the town of Osage. James grew up there as a child. Quite extraordinary to receive the sign of the bridge. At that time the puzzle was complete. " Vossen said.

 

The premiere  of Ageless Friends will be held on June 18th in the MET Theatre in James' hometown, Morgantown, WV

Top of Page

Copyright and all other rights reserved by the Family and Friends of The 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment Association or by those who are otherwise cited,
For problems or questions regarding this web site, please contact
Jumpmaster.